House Democrats Will Try Anti-Corruption Message
Associated Press: “Days after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was ousted by an opposition campaign with an anti-corruption message, Democrats want to try the same playbook against President Donald Trump before the midterm elections.”
“House Democrats launched Wednesday what they call a task force to overhaul ethics rules and protect access to the ballot. They also want to highlight the Trump family’s business dealings and the president’s transformation of the federal government.”
Narrow Majority Favors Early Redistricting in Virginia
A new State Navigate survey finds Virginia Democrats’ early gerrymandering ballot measure narrowly ahead by 5 percentage points.
Trump Overwhelmingly Blamed for High Gas Prices
A new Quinnipiac poll finds 38% of voters approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president, while 55% disapprove.
Key takeaway: A stunning 65% say they blame Trump for higher gas prices, while 34% blame him not much (11%) or not at all (23%).
Republicans Say Trump Will Cost Them the Midterms
Few Republican lawmakers said anything publicly about President Trump’s startling social media post last week warning Iran that “a whole civilization will die tonight,” but privately, in a large text chat, a group of them read his threat with alarm, NBC News reports.
“The chat is among members of Congress’ ‘Main Street Caucus,’ a group of almost 100 GOP lawmakers. One Republican lawmaker questioned how the remarks were helpful to those having to defend Trump’s costly war with Iran and complained that the president’s rhetoric isn’t doing the party any favors, according to three House Republicans with direct knowledge of the exchange. Multiple members then chimed in to echo similar concerns.”
Said one House Republican: “People were pissed.”
Said another: “You cannot just threaten to erase an entire civilization.”
“Some in the group debated whether and how to respond but, in the end, most stayed silent for fear of angering Trump or undermining him in wartime.”
Greenland’s Leader Says Citizens Don’t Feel Safe
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told NBC News that many Greenlanders “don’t feel safe” amid President Trump’s repeated push to take control of the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Budget Director Can’t Say How Much Iran War Will Cost
White House budget director Russ Vought told lawmakers Wednesday that the Trump administration hasn’t settled on “a ballpark” range for how much funding it will ask Congress to approve for the Iran conflict, Politico reports.
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Iran’s Regime Has Changed—for the Worse
Wall Street Journal: “The U.S. and Israel launched the war with the hope that killing top Iranian officials—starting with Mojtaba’s father, Ali Khamenei—would create the conditions for regime change or at least the emergence of leaders more willing to bend to America and Israel’s interests. In an address to the nation one month into the war, President Trump called the new leadership “more reasonable.””
“Instead, the void is being filled by radical new leaders who have shown little interest in political compromise at home or abroad. Iranians demonstrating against Israel walk in front of a billboard showing Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.”
“Iran’s hard-liners—anti-Western ideologues with no tolerance for domestic dissent—have always had a place in the country’s overlapping and competing circles of power, their influence rising under the patronage of the elder Khamenei. But they now dominate Iran’s political and military leadership, energized by a war that many of them believe presages the return of a Shiite Muslim messiah.”
Swalwell Scandal Sparks Fears of Deeper Rot
Los Angeles Times: “Eric Swalwell’s downfall has raised the possibility of a broader reckoning on Capitol Hill as congressional staffers, reporters and opposition researchers race to verify long-standing rumors of a sordid underground culture among the city’s most powerful.”
“Former lawmakers across the political spectrum have warned for years of a hushed congressional bacchanal marked by inappropriate revelry and sexual misconduct. But a sense of growing momentum gripped Congress on Tuesday, as Democrats grappled with Swalwell’s resignation and Republicans called for other lawmakers to face scrutiny.”
Trump’s Fed Pick Is Caught in Unprecedented Standoff
“Kevin Warsh’s path to leading the Federal Reserve took a key step forward this week—and possibly two steps back,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“On the same day that the Senate Banking Committee announced the date of his confirmation hearing to become the next Fed chairman, prosecutors from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office sought to escalate the very investigation that threatens to delay his appointment.”
“Then, in a Fox Business interview that aired Wednesday morning, President Trump made a full-throated defense of the probe of Chair Jerome Powell related to the renovation of the Fed’s headquarters.”
“The confirmation faces a roadblock led by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who has vowed not to advance any Fed nomination until the Justice Department ends its probe.”
Trump Makes Plea for Republicans to Stick Together
“President Donald Trump is ramping up pressure for Republicans to ‘unify’ behind a clean, 18-month extension of a key spy power — making a last minute plea to GOP holdouts refusing to bend without certain amendments,” Politico reports.
Iran Threatens Retaliation Over U.S. Blockade
Iran on Wednesday threatened further retaliation over an American naval blockade of its ports in the critical Strait of Hormuz as the U.S. military said that it had “completely halted” trade in and out of Iran by sea, the New York Times reports.
Headline of the Day
“Vance Says the Pope Should Be More Careful When Talking About Theology”
— New York Times, April 15, 2026.
Trump’s Go-To Justification for Contentious Decisions
New York Times: “President Trump offered a surprising justification last month for forging ahead with construction of his White House ballroom: Halting the $400 million project would pose a grave threat to national security.”
Said Trump: “Everything is drone-proof and bulletproof.”
“It was hardly the first time the administration had invoked national security to justify a contentious decision. Over the past year, top officials have cited similar concerns when stripping union rights from thousands of federal workers, pausing the construction of wind farms off the East Coast, and exempting oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from protections for endangered species of whales.”
“Critics see a troubling trend that is testing the limits of presidential power.”
Trump’s Dark Night on Truth Social
Tom Nichols: “On many recent nights, Donald Trump has been posting obsessively on his Truth Social site into the wee hours. The president, of course, has never been one for a solid night’s sleep—or restrained and temperate commentary on social media—but his emotional state seems to be fraying: This weekend, he attacked Pope Leo XIV, presented himself as Jesus Christ, and then jabbed at his phone until dawn.”
“Judging from those posts, the commander in chief is in distress. No one can say for sure what is causing the president’s bizarre behavior. Perhaps Trump’s narcissistic insistence that he is always successful in everything he undertakes is feeling the sting and strain of multiple public failures, including the collapse of his campaign to dislodge the Iranian regime, plummeting approval ratings, the decline of the U.S. economy, and, on Sunday, the crushing defeat of one of his favorite fellow authoritarians, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán.”
“But whatever is driving this decline in Trump’s self-control, Americans must not shrug off the president’s latest implosion.”
Trump Breaks With Giorgia Meloni
New York Times: “After suffering major political setbacks because of her association with Mr. Trump, who is deeply unpopular in Italy and seen as the cause of rising gas prices, Ms. Meloni seized on an opportunity to extricate herself from a relationship that had grown domestically and internationally poisonous. After Mr. Trump launched a broadside on Monday against Pope Leo XIV, Ms. Meloni rallied to the American pontiff’s defense, saying, ‘I find President Trump’s remarks about the Holy Father unacceptable.’”
“Mr. Trump, clearly jilted, lashed out at Ms. Meloni, saying in an interview with an Italian newspaper on Tuesday that he hadn’t talked to her ‘in a long time,’ was vexed by her lack of participation in the war in Iran and was ‘shocked by her,’ adding, ‘I thought she was brave, but I was wrong.’”
Where’s Jared Kushner’s Ethics Disclosure?
The Atlantic: “While carrying out public business for his father-in-law, he has continued to pursue his private interests and declined to disclose any information about them. There’s a carve-out designation in ethics laws known as the ‘special government employee,’ which allows business people to perform work for the government.”
“Elon Musk was a special government employee, and so was Corey Lewandowski. But Kushner has not been designated one. He is both outside and inside government—a ‘volunteer,’ the White House calls him. And he is vaulting over strictures that were put in place to defend the mechanisms of government from becoming tools of foreign or private interests.”
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